The Honda Super Cub may not be the fastest, most technically advanced or most stylish and glamourous of machines in motorcycling history but with over 100 million built it’s not only the most-produced motorcycle in history, it is also the biggest selling vehicle of all time and, as such, formed the cornerstone of Honda’s powered two-wheeled global dominance and played a major role in the mobilization of the whole planet.

No mean feat for a humble, initially 49cc single-cylinder ‘step-thru’ conceived way back in the mid-1950s.

The very first Super Cub, the 49cc C100, was introduced in 1958 at which point the fledgling Honda company was barely 10 years old and still building little more than small capacity mopeds and proprietary engines.

Join us as we take a deep dive into the Super Cubs history...

In 1956 company founder Soichiro Honda along with long­time business partner Takeo Fujisawa travelled to Europe on a fact-finding mission for their next major product. What they concluded was that, with such major differences between countries, ranging from scooter-loving Italy to motorcycle-favouring Britain, a new concept was necessary that would appeal to both developed and developing countries.

That concept’s stated aim was straightforward: ‘to provide the joy of playing a useful part in people’s lives’. A conventional scooter wasn’t suitable as it would be too complex to maintain and its small wheels would be a hindrance and unsuitable on badly maintained or nonexistent roads. While a conventional motorcycle was no good, either, as it was too difficult to operate and maintain and was generally dirty and noisy. 

Other requirements the pair settled upon included that it would be simple and cheap to make to keep prices low, be capable of being produced on a massive scale and be easy to ride – for both men and women. Fujisawa himself famously stipulated that it could be ridden one-handed while carrying a tray of noodles. Reportedly, he said to Honda: “If you can design a small motorcycle with a cover to hide the engine and hoses and wires inside, I can sell it. I don't know how many noodle shops there are in Japan, but I bet you every shop will want one for deliveries.”

On the pair’s return, work began in earnest. Honda focused his attention on developing the machine, Fujisawa paid most attention to his business plans. Both were ambitious. The bike was to have novel, mid-size 17inch wheels for stability (most scooters then had 12-inchers, motorcycles 19+) for which tyres were initially unavailable until a Japanese manufacturer finally stepped forward. Fujisawa, meanwhile, targeted hugely ambitious monthly domestic sales of 30,000 per month, half again as many as the then entire Japanese two-wheeler market. His ultimate goal was to export motorcycles on a scale as yet unseen in postwar Japan.

Four key parameters were also set out for the new bike. It would have a four-stroke engine that offered top performance but was also rugged and reliable, quiet and fuel efficient. Its chassis and bodywork would be of a size and shape that women could easily handle and ride. A new gear shift system would be employed that didn’t require a clutch lever to change gears and the overall design would be ‘friendly, fresh and timeless’. One of its most novel features would also be a leg fairing that would help keep its rider clean and dry and would be made, for the first time, of lightweight polyethylene. 

The result, the Honda C100 Super Cub, was launched in August 1958 with 24,000 sold in the first five months and 167,000 the following year – although huge, this actually fell short of Honda’s targets, at a time when annual total motorcycles sales in Japan was around 300,000. But that was just the start.

Fujisawa, meanwhile, had been making plans for global expansion. Instead of trading through foreign partners, Honda decided to set up its own, wholly owned subsidiaries to provide the necessary service and spare parts distribution.

The first was the American Honda Motor Company, founded in 1959 but that wasn’t the end of their ambitions. In 1961 a sales network was established in Germany, then in Belgium and the UK in 1962, then France in 1964.

To make the new machine Honda built an all-new factory, at great expense, at Suzuka, capable of making 30,000 C100s a month, 50,000 with two shifts. The new plant was modelled on that of Volkswagen’s Beetle production line in Wolfsburg, Germany. Until then, Honda had sold only 2-3,000 machines per month. When completed in 1960, the Suzuka Factory was the largest motorcycle factory in the world and the economies of scale it achieved cut 18% from the cost of each Super Cub.

While to drive all that ambition and encourage the sales required, Honda also embarked on a series of pioneering marketing campaigns, first in Japan, where the wives of dealers were encouraged to support their husbands to make dealers more attractive to female potential buyers. Then, even more memorably in the USA where, even after the Super Cub became something of a cult bike, an advertising campaign reminded people that ‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda’.

All of these factors helped make the Super Cub a best-selling, personal transport phenomenon the world over, spawn a whole family of machines tailored more closely to individual markets including 70 and 90cc variants, encourage a regular series of updates, inspire numerous rival replicas from the likes of Yamaha and Suzuki, and ensure the Super Cub’s continuous production for a mind-boggling 60 years.

In 2014, the Super Cub featured in ex-Top Gear presenter James May’s ‘Cars of the People’ TV series. In 2018 Honda made a special edition to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Super Cub production, with a celebration at the very factory where the 100 millionth Super Cub had been produced in October 2017. And in 2018 an all-new model was released with a modern 125cc engine, ABS brakes, LED headlights, and a keyless ignition.

If all of that doesn’t make the Honda Super Cub a motorcycling legend, we’re not sure what does!